AARTO in Cape Town doesn’t look like it will proceed as planned on 1 December 2025. The Road Traffic Infringement Agency (RTIA) wants the controversial system to go live in 69 municipalities nationwide on the stipulated date.
However, there appears to be a fly in the ointment for AARTO in Cape Town. Because the City of Cape Town wants no part of it. And neither do mayors from Swellendam, Stellenbosch, George, Mossel Bay and Piketberg – to name but a few. But why?
AARTO IN CAPE TOWN DUBIOUS
As The South African has been covering, there is little evidence that AARTO in Cape Town will improve road safety. Following implementation in Tshwane and Johannesburg back in 2008-2010, Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member, JP Smith, calls its administration ‘impractical and unworkable.’
Accordingly, the RTIA’s Monde Mkalipi has acknowledged documents submitted from Western Cape authorities. He says it is studying the submissions of the municipalities and will comment in due course, reports The Citizen. The matter has also been handed over to the Portfolio Committee on Transport chairperson, MP Selelo Selamolela (ANC). Of broader concern is if Cape Town is granted exemption, whether it’ll open the door for other municipalities to do the same.
WHAT’S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT?
Central to the rollout of AARTO in Cape Town is the eventual driver demerit system, set for 1 September 2026. The system promises to punish scofflaws who exceed 15 demerit points by suspending and cancelling drivers’ licences. However, the key to it all is revenue generated from traffics fines. Currently, all violations are dealt with by local Western Cape municipalities. This is worth tens of millions in annual revenue, that goes straight back into governance.
As a result, OUTA believes as much as 50% of traffic-fine revenue will immediately be diverted from municipalities to RTIA pockets. It’s understood that city authorities are within their rights to reject AARTO in Cape Town. “This is by virtue of legislative amendments in 2024, which allow municipalities to select whether they would like to use pre-existing laws when provincial and municipal by-laws cover the same enforcements,” explains Smith.
DOUBTS OVER AARTO IN CAPE TOWN
Besides growing doubts about AARTO in Cape Town, there are still several unanswered questions about the new system’s efficiency. For example, experts say the RTIA can issue infinite contravention notices for the same infringement. This gives the RTIA a free pass to circumvent due process and simply harass motorists.
Moreover, if you reject your infringement with the RTIA, there’s a centralised nine-member tribunal to hear appeals. Experts say this is an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy. And such matters should rather be heard by a local magistrate’s court. Plus, when AARTO’s demerit system does go live in 2026, it will cost R60 per query to find out how many demerit points you have against your name.
But what do you think? Will AARTO make our roads safer? Or is it just a money-making scheme and the Western Cape is greedy trying to keep the proceeds to itself?
